Lately, I've been thinking a lot about getting another tattoo. So, as I do with most things I'm interested in, I've been searching for ideas. I ran across these pics on EW's website. I think any of these would work...

5/28/2008

Have you ever been punched in the face in real time? What about in super slow motion? Well, these people have. And it looks awesome! Kind of like their skull moving first, then their skin. Please to enjoy, super slow motion punch to the face.

5/27/2008

Honestly, it helps keep me sane. It helps me work out the aggressiveness that sometimes builds up inside of me. And, believe it or not, it actually serves as a quiet time when I can think without the distractions of TV or music. Editor's Note: Although, I did bring my iPod tonight.

However, since the end of January, I've let circumstance get the better of me and I've fallen out of habit with my regular 4 times a week gym routine. Tonight, I made my return.

I got offline (from playing poker with Taff) around 10-ish and headed out. I got back around 11:30pm. When I walked into the house, McGill was still up, so I sat and talked for a few minutes. Then, I went to my room and dropped off my stuff. After sitting on the bed for a few seconds, I felt my mouth begin to over-salivate. So, I calmly walked to the bathroom. On the way there I could feel the saliva start to increase. Upon reaching my destination, I got down on all fours and prayed, "God, please don't let this happen..."

5/26/2008

For some time now I've known that I have an addictive personality. This is why I've had to be choosy as to what I let into my life. I know that, if I let the wrong things in, it'll be too tough to get them out.

This is why I've never tasted alcohol or played World of Warcraft...

But I've let something in that might be around for a while. And I'd like to invite you to join...

For the past couple of weeks, Taffy, Dom, and I have been meeting up late at night to play a few rounds of online poker at pokerroom.com. Here's what's awesome about it: It's free! You start with $1000 in play money and, if you lose it, you can recharge it twice a day. Editor's Note: I'm up $3300 today! If you want to play, just go to the website and register for free.

So, what do you say? Are you all in? Our goal is to get enough people together to have our own private table. If you want into our game, just text, call, comment, or email me.

Things have been a little busy for the past few days (thank you, Lord), so I haven't been able to blog as I normally do. But I've got some time today, so I figured I'd post some things I've been holding on to...

Two weekends ago I was in Salem, Oregon. In between all of my planned activities, I had the better part of a Saturday to roam around and explore. One of the places I ended up was called Governor's Cup Coffee Roasters.

I had been the day before for a meeting, but wanted to go back to spend some time reading and journaling on my own.

To say that this place was great would do it a disservice. I was amazing.

Twice a week, they use this machine to roast their own coffee beans. The guy that brought me the day before said that, if you're in the place when they're doing this, your clothes smell like coffee for two weeks. With a very satisfied look on his face, he then remarked, "It's heaven."

Here's a view from my seat of the back of the house. I loved sitting beside the counter, as it gave me a sweet view of the baristas and baristos (male form of barista) in action.

Here's a view of the drink I ordered, a hazelnut americano. Now, I know I've become known as somewhat of a hyperbolist, but I want to preface my following comment with this: I'm not using a bit of exaggeration.

5/21/2008

And today's edition comes straight out of childhood. Have you ever been in a situation where someone calls shotgun on the way to the car, only to realize that they have no idea if their call is in accordance with the universal rules of shotgun calling? Well, worry no more.

Here are the official rules. Go forth, with this knowledge, and rule the world...

5/20/2008

As I watched last night's episode of American Gladiators (which shall, henceforth in this post, be referred to as "AG"), I decided that, out of all of their musclebound, spandex-clad, television warriors, only two stand apart as being attractive. Those two are...

Now, before you start leaving comments like, "Josh, how could you find these amazons attractive in any way?" or "Josh, you must be hyped up on 'roids to think these "ladies" are hot." (a common misconception) or "Josh, they could beat you up on your best day.", let me strike preemptively and list out my reasons for thinking it a good idea to want to date either one of these feminine fighters...

Josh's Reasons for Wanting to Date an American Gladiator1) Free tickets to the show... (If you grew up in the 80's, and you're a dude, you have to love this show. It's the law.)

2) I'd no longer have to go to the gym to build up my own musculature for the purposes of "defending my woman". In fact, I'd probably begin to invite guys to hit on her, just so I could then watch her hit on them...

3) I'd finally get the chance to run around in one of those giant hamster balls...

4) I'd get to meet Hulk Hogan...

5) I'd no longer have to be the one asked to open the jar, carry something to the car, or lift anything...

And there you have it: five inarguable reasons why I have a crush on these two AGs.

5/16/2008

I started seeing this commercial sometime in mid-April. I think Discovery launched it along with their new logo. After seeing it a few times, the song got stuck in my head. After singing it a few times, I decided that I loved the message it was sending.

I do love the world! And it is an awesome place! And I would love to light someone on fire...

5/15/2008

Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of leading worship for a junior high group...

But my relationship with worship music hasn't always been an amicable one.

I got my first guitar when I was fifteen years old. I used to take it to church with me on Wednesday nights and the intern for our youth group, Bryant, would show me one chord each week. I think the first one I learned was a "D", then a "C", then "G". After a month or so, he told me to practice switching between the chords. Once I got that down, he gave me some worship songs to help me work on my rhythm.

Bryant eventually finished his internship, so he moved on. After that, my Sunday school teacher, Terry, began working with me on my playing. He even went as far as helping me buy my first "nice" guitar. Once I had a few songs under my belt, my youth pastor, Mark, asked me to lead a few songs for the group. So, quaking in fear, I got up in front of all of my friends, and sang and played a few songs.

Sometime around my sophomore year, my friend Billy Webb taught me my first non-worship song, Sweet Home Alabama. After that, I started working pretty exclusively on other "secular" songs.

Fast forward a couple of years to my ministry experience during college. It didn't take long, once the youth pastors I worked for found out I played guitar and sang, for the command to be handed down. "Hey, you play guitar and sing! You should be in charge of forming a youth praise band!"

This came to be a sentence that I grew to fear and loathe. Music was always something that I loved and enjoyed in my personal life, but never really had a passion for in ministry. This combined with the fact that I've always had a little bit of an automatic push-back when told to do something, made for a bad relationship between worship music and I.

That all changed once I arrived in Orange County. I met Taffy during the first week of my internship. After about five minutes of conversation he asked me if I played guitar or sang. I replied, rather reticently, that I could if he needed me to.

So, within a few weeks, I found myself at a worship band practice and then onstage leading during a weekend service. But it was on that stage that everything changed.

I still remember stepping off stage after my first time leading and saying, "Wow! That was actually fun!" After that, I led at least twice a month for the next two and a half years.

Once I moved down to San Diego and began pastoring a Middle School group of my own, I wasn't able to lead as often as I would have liked. (I had two incredible volunteers that led for me.) And so, other than the occasional opportunity in big church, music became purely extracurricular again.

All of that to say, this past weekend was amazing. To be able to lead Jr. Highers in worship again felt like a missing piece of me was returned.

With last night's elimination of Syesha Mercado, we'll go in to the American Idol finale with who most people agree were the two most talented contestants this season. Editor's Note: Even though I had originally predicted Carly would be in the top two...

I can't wait to see who comes out on top! I want David Cook to win, but I think it might end up being the monchichi...

5/14/2008

Have you ever wondered how painkillers work? I mean, how do they know where the pain is? And how do they go to the right place? And how do they stop it? Oh... You haven't. Well, I have. And I found a sweet article that, much like Clarissa, explains it all. Click here for the article. Here's a short clip...

First, we need to make a distinction between the two main classes of painkillers, which are used for different situations and function via different mechanisms.

The first class is the narcotic opioid drugs. These are the heavy-duty drugs, like morphine and codeine, used to treat severe pain. They relieve pain in two ways: first by interfering with and blocking the transmission of pain signals to the brain, and then by working in the brain to alter the sensation of pain. These drugs neither find nor kill pain, but reduce and alter the user’s perception of the pain. They’re kind of like having an optimistic friend that says, “Hey man, everything will be cool. Nothing’s wrong. Here, look at this shiny, distracting thing!”

Today's edition comes to you from Car and Driver magazine. Have you ever been pulled over by a police officer? If so, you may have felt nervous about whether or not you're following the proper behavioral etiquette. Well, worry no more. Car and Driver has talked with officers and written a feature on what you should do when being pulled over.

5/13/2008

This weekend, for the first time in my life, I'll be traveling to Oregon...

I'm stoked for the trip for many reasons, but chief among them is... you guessed it: food related.

A while ago, on The Food Network, I saw a feature on VooDoo Doughnut. Specializing in weird and oddly flavored doughnuts, I think it's safe to say that there's not anywhere else that makes doughnuts quite like these guys.

So, on the front end of the trip, I'll be hitting it up. Pictures, as well as a review, are sure to come...

And now, yet another story from my past that shows how dumb I am... Editor's Note: Feel free to read the first one here...

The above picture is of my home church, specifically the old steeple. When I was in fifth grade, I would come every Wednesday night for our RAs program. Usually, after it was over, I'd have to wait for a little while for my mom to come pick me up.

So, one night (more than likely because I was dared) I decided to try and climb up the steeple. I stepped inside and placed my back up against one side of the brick with my feet against the other. Then, I began to shimmy. I shimmied up to the roof and stepped off onto it.

However, this posed a slight problem. You see, not only am I afraid of heights (as I've mentioned many times before on this blog) but, as it turns out, shimmying up is a whole lot easier than shimmying down.

So, an adult had to go and find a ladder to help me get down.

If only I had been as cat-like and ninja-ish as I am now, I would have been able to get down myself...

5/12/2008

Two weekends ago, I went with a former small group student to see Iron Man for a second time. For those that know me, this should come as no surprise. The movie was so awesome the second time through, that I decided it would be the world's greatest idea to rent the video game. So I went to Blockbuster...

After grabbing the game from the shelf, I was greeted by this guy at the register...

Now, I've heard of casual dress Fridays at the office, but wear your pajamas to work Sundays?

But, who knows? Maybe he got called in in an emergency and was told to come "as is"...

5/10/2008

Yes, I'm behind on my American Idol reporting. I've been on the road quite a bit, and have had a hard time finding the time (and motivation) to sit down and write. But, here it is, three days late.

Jason Casto is gone...

I know that I predicted Syesha would go before him. And I know that his elimination brings my average down to a disappointing 44.4%. But I don't care. The only reason I thought he'd make it into the top three was because of his looks. Vocally, he's about as talented as any "good" singer in your home town. If he does make an album, it'll be big amongst his family, friends, and that small demographic of people who buy CDs for the pictures that come inside the lyric book.

Syesha has to know that she doesn't stand a chance against the Davids. It's just a matter of time...

5/09/2008

I'm not sure if you ever take a look over at the right column, but under the heading "On My Shelf..." is a list of books in my que to read. The book I'm reading at present is always on top. I wish I could say that I always read in the order I list them, but it seems a usual occurrence that a book jumps to the front of the list.

Right now, I'm about 2/3 of the way through In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson. Editor's Note: I'll probably write some type of review or reflection on it once I'm done.

"I think many people have the mistaken notion that faith reduces uncertainty. Nothing could be further from the truth. Faith doesn't reduce uncertainty. Faith embraces uncertainty."

To say that my past few months have seen some uncertainty would be a gross understatement. And, after coming out of the darkest part of it, I wish I could say that I'm sure of what God has next for me. I wish... But I can't. I'm no more certain of what God has next for me today than I was in February. However, I think the difference between February and now is that I'm more comfortable living in the uncertainty. Editor's Note: Please note that I said "living in" not "living with". This was done with quite a bit of intention.

Perhaps we need uncertainty to have faith. After all, isn't that what faith is? Choosing to trust in something without the complete reveal?

I hope that God has used these past few months to grow my faith. I hope that, for the first time in my life, not knowing what's next has propelled me into a deeper dependance on Him. I hope that I can begin to see uncertainty as an opportunity to run harder towards God rather than a curse or banishment from Him. And I hope that you can too...

5/04/2008

While I was home in SC this week, I had the distinct pleasure of watching LOST on my friend, Micah's, rather large HD TV. This, of course, was a joy. Except, every time Rebecca Mader, who plays Charlotte (one of the freighter folk), came on screen I couldn't help being reminded of something that scared the underoos off of me when I was a kid.

Now, before you say how I'm a "terrible person", or accuse me of "not having a soul", or saying how "beautiful" she is, or how Rocky Dennis "saved you from a burning building while simultaneously curing you of polio", let me go ahead and say that I don't think Rebecca's a bad looking lady. I think she's kind of pretty. I just think she looks a little too much like Rocky for me to be able to hang out with her.

If you still think I'm crazy, tune in this Thursday night and try to think about anything else. I think we've got a Body Double...